London Concord Singers are currently rehearsing Morten Lauridsen's Les chansons des roses for their Christmas Concert on Dec 15th. I have been finding that Lauridsen's way of setting French rather unsettles me, though I suppose you have to bear in mind that he is setting French which was written by Rilke who was born in Prague. Lauridsen doesn't set French the way a French composer might, he ignores the sort of poetic diction that a native speaker might use (whereby such things as a silent 'e' is unsilenced). But such things are a minefield for the non-native speaker. And I find I have to temper my annoyance as I have been guilty of such things myself, in Rilke as well but this time in German.
My setting of Rilke's Second Duino Elegy was made after I fell in love with the opening. But, of course, it is a very long poem, and though I can speak German I don't speak it like a native and it became apparent that I certainly don't set it like a native. A German singer friend pointed out that I broke rules, but I came to realise that if I tried to follow all the rules whilst setting the German, my setting would start not to feel 'right' to me. So I aimed simply for comprehensibility rather than being idiomatic.
So whilst the singer in my worrits away at Lauridsen's settings, the composer sympathises entirely.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Septura I first became aware of the brass septet, Septura , when noting their 2017/18 concert series Kleptomania at St John's Smith...
-
Britten: Death in Venice - Tim Mead, Leo Dixon - Royal Opera ((c) ROH 2019 photographed by Catherine Ashmore) 2019 seems to have b...
-
Mural: chamber music by Gabriel Vicéns; Stradivarius Reviewed 15 April 2024 At times fierce and concentrated, Gabriel Vicéns music can evok...
-
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Jessica Cottis Catalyst : Coleridge-Taylor, Julius Eastman, Gavin Higgins, Dani Howard, Prokofiev...
-
Ben Goldscheider Jörg Widmann, Beethoven, Schumann, Huw Watkins, York Bowen; Ben Goldscheider, Richard Uttley; Wigmore Hall Reviewed 17 Marc...
-
Thomas Elwin as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at West Green House Opera in 2021(Photo: Matthew Williams-Ellis) West Green House...
-
Bizet: Carmen, Act One - Blaise Malaba, Aighul Akhmetshina - Royal Opera House (Photo: ROH/Camilla Greenwell) Bizet: Carmen ; Aigul Akhmets...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Hurn Court Opera (Photo: Patrick Frost, BlackStar Pictures) Mozart: Don Giovanni : Sam Young, Samuel Lom, Lizzie Ryde...
-
Leeds Lieder Young Artists 2024 at Howard Assembly Room Composers & Poets Forum Showcase: A Leeds Songbook; Leeds Lieder Festival at Le...
No comments:
Post a Comment